I've noticed, in my years on the Web, that
there is a paucity of information on obscure Golden Age heroes. Oh, there's
definitely information on the major heroes of the Golden Age. There are
Superman and Batman sites a-plenty, a few good ones on the Invaders
and the Justice Society,
and so on. There is even a good site for information on obscure
Timely heroes--it's my own site, but I'll forego the false modesty,
since it's a good site. But once get away from Marvel and DC and
Fawcett,
you're pretty much out of luck. Things aren't even that good, as the obscure
characters for DC and Fawcett aren't even covered by most every site out
there; try finding information on Mike Gibbs or Commando Yank online. Go
ahead. I dare you. And information on characters from non-Big Three companies
is just not available anywhere. (Well, okay, that's not, strictly speaking,
entirely accurate. The
Golden Age Directory has some links to non-Big Three companies and
heroes. But it's the best site out there for this sort of information,
and even Mikel's superlative effort is missing information, as he himself
would be the first to admit)

So I'm filling this gap. You'll quickly notice
that there isn't a whole lot of information in most entries, and that some
entries are rudimentary. That's deliberate. I don't have the time, energy,
or resources to do an in-depth investigation of each character. I figure
that, in the years and decades to come, there will be others to expand
on my work. (If comics survive that long, I mean) For now, I think it's
enough to give short descriptions of each character.

The characters are listed in traditional comic
book style, first name first, surname last, so that both Captain
Marvel and Johnny Thunder
are listed alphabetically by the first letter of their first name, in,
respectively, the Cs
and the Js. Likewise, characters with
ordinary names, like Wing Brady and Slam Bradley will be found in the Ws
and the Ss.

I'll be sticking with Golden Age characters
and continuity only. No retcon characters or histories will be included
(so the All-Star Squadron, for one, will be excluded). My definition of
the "Golden Age," by the way, is 1935 to 1949. If you don't agree with
my definition, then you're free to go elsewhere.

Thanks to: Alicia, as always, my polestar;
Michael Norwitz, always helpful, whose web sites provided much good information
and links; Ronald Byrd, a comics scholar whose knowledge dwarfs not just
my own but, from what I can tell, the pro writers as well.

Last
updated: 15 October 2000The Debut

"Prepare for the fortification
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